October 8, 2024
A growing number of utilities are resorting to an extreme measure to prevent their equipment from sparking catastrophic wildfires: turning off the power. Electric companies serving about 24 million homes and businesses across the fire-prone US West now have plans …
July 22, 2024
The law firms leading class-action litigation against PacifiCorp over the 2020 Labor Day weekend wildfires in Oregon want to examine whether the utility owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is colluding with other law firms to reach lowball settlements with …
June 4, 2024
Oregon utility regulators have rejected a request from PacifiCorp that sought to limit its liability in wildfire lawsuits. Under the proposal, PacifiCorp would only have been responsible for paying out actual economic damages in lawsuit awards. The company submitted the …
May 1, 2024
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s PacifiCorp now faces a demand for $30 billion from victims of Oregon’s 2020 Labor Day wildfires, an escalation of a legal onslaught on the largest grid operator in the western US. While the amount sought in an …
March 8, 2024
A jury in Oregon has ordered PacifiCorp to pay more than $42 million to 10 victims of devastating wildfires on Labor Day 2020 — the latest verdict in litigation that is expected to see the electric utility on the hook …
December 8, 2023
Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co.’s PacifiCorp said it will pay $299 million to settle claims over wildfires that burned homes in southwest Oregon, averting another jury trial in litigation that has already exposed the utility to billions in damages. The accord, …
November 30, 2023
Oregon’s utility regulator this week said it would investigate a petition by PacifiCorp to limit its liability from future wildfire-related lawsuits, delaying a decision on the power provider’s request by as long as nine months. In October, the Berkshire Hathaway …
September 21, 2023
Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co.’s PacifiCorp has been battered in an unprecedented court fight over the utility’s failure to prevent massive wildfire destruction in Oregon. The largest grid operator in the western US faces the risk that it will have to …
July 19, 2023
Destructive wildfires are now an almost routine part of summer in the American West, and electrical utilities have likewise become used to having their power lines and equipment blamed for igniting the blazes. But a jury verdict last month ordering …
July 17, 2023
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s PacifiCorp was sued by Oregon wineries claiming that smoke from wildfires ignited by the utility’s equipment in 2020 destroyed their grape harvests, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in damages and lost wine sales. The lawsuits …